Hill out of Mole

A nation is sure to bleed if her intellectuals and the media men begin harping on the tunes of friendly countries, more so of the neighboring nations. It is hundred percent true that we can change friends but not the neighbors. Undoubtedly, India is our traditional neighbor, which has come to our support at our difficult times. However, the fact is also that she has squeezed us as and when she has had the chance to do so.

Beginning 1950 and even today, it is India and India alone that has remained instrumental, some times being visible and at times remaining invisible, in shaping our country's politics in a manner that has suited her most. Shame on us that we have been acting on their dictates and seeking their advices on how Nepal should run and who should run this country. The fact is that where not is Indian engagement in this country: beginning politics and business and many more, which is beyond the imagination of this paper?

Given this hard fact, yet some so called tainted and painted intellectuals wish to dismiss these facts for reasons beyond our thinking. For some friends in the media, India should mean supreme in this country's affairs and that no other country than India should be allowed to have its say in Nepali affairs. This is ridiculous and just the exhibition of a one-sided policy that prefers to negate the gains that this country is bagging from its relations with the countries that, geographically, were situated far from this Himalayan Kingdom.

No sane Nepali would dare to dismiss the beauties of Nepal-India bilateral relations. Concurrently what is also a hard fact that no sane Nepali will vote blindfolded in favor of India if he or she knew of the issues that have plagued Nepal-India relations, let's say beginning 1950.

Those who appear nervous in observing the "increasing influence of the United States" in this country are doing so with a purpose, we suppose. They do so to inform the public that when it is India that has been coming to the rescue of Nepal as and when problems grip this country then why should others, for example the United States, be allowed to have its greater say in the country's politics. Discrediting the United States could be a well-drawn strategy for those who have taken the charge for that job. However, justice would demand from them as well that they simultaneously dwell at length what India has so far meant to Nepal and her genuine national interests.

The presumed United States presence here has not encroached our land here and there. Their "increased" presence in Nepal has not constructed a dam of the sort of Mahali Sagar that has inundated thousands of Nepali villages in the mid-west region of this country. The US has so far not squeezed Nepal to sign a package of the sort of the Mahakali River. Likewise, the US has not visibly forced us that the next prime minister is made of their political preference. In the same manner, the "increased" presence of the US in Nepal have not forced us to sign treaties that go against the Nepali national interests. It is not the presence of the US that has obstructed the plea of the Maoists to bring in the UN mediation in their protracted war with the Nepali establishment. The intellectuals very much understand on whose pressure the idea of the UN mediation efforts in our affairs have gone to the dogs.

Ok! Let's face the fact that India and Nepal can't afford to remain in isolation now at this stage. They both need each other's support. Let's admit the fact that India is a very important neighbor for us and by the same token, the other side too should take it. Both know better that they can't change their neighbors. This is a fact and will remain a fact.

The fact is also that India and the United States have of late become very close friends. However, we the vested interests are playing foul against the vastly growing Indo-US relations.

Nepal needs support from all of her neighbors and friends from other region as well. While India has a different meaning for Nepal so is her relations with the countries of the developed West. Let's not make hill out of a mole. 

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